State Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, has added his voice to criticism of Attorney General Greg Abbott’s opposition to the merger between AMR Corp. and US Airways.

Abbott joined with Attorney General Eric Holder and five other states to file suit in federal court in an attempt to halt the merger on antitrust grounds two weeks ago yesterday. A trial date could be set as soon as Friday.

Abbott has said the case against the merger is so clear, from a legal standpoint, that he had to act or else betray his oath of office. The government argues the merger will lead to higher fares and less competition for air passengers.

Turner wrote Wednesday in a letter to constituents and the media that he doesn’t “understand why the State of Texas — where American Airlines is based — would take legal action against the best interests of our own economy, putting a Texas-based company and Texas jobs at risk.”

Turner is chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. His letter highlighted the economic importance of the airline — citing Chamber of Commerce figures that it employs 21,000 area residents and “supports another 175,000 contractors and vendors.”

His letter does not address, however, any of the claims by the government that the merger would be bad for passengers, including those in Texas.

He said that he also sent a letter to Abbott with questions he’d like to have answered, including: what data Abbott considered when making the decision to sue, whom he consulted, and what “he thinks American should do in the event the merger does not move forward and how much this litigation will cost the taxpayers of Texas.”

He concludes by saying that “legal action in our state’s name should never be taken lightly, especially when so many jobs are at stake.”

Given that Abbott has made it a point of pride how many times his office has sued the government on behalf of Texas, that latter line of attack may not have much sting.

Calling it a step toward more government openness and efficiency, Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, filed legislation Thursday that would update the Texas Open Meetings Act to allow public officials to communicate between meetings on an online message board.

Members of the public would be able to see the exchanges of information in the electronic forum, so government officials wouldn’t be bypassing the law with their communications.

“This is a new idea. I think it’s a landmark tool for government,” Watson said.

Attorney General Greg Abbott joined Watson at a news conference to support the legislation, Senate Bill 1297. Abbott said the online forums would be optional and funded by the governmental entities. They must be “easy, open and obvious,” he said.

He noted that the Open Meetings Act currently bans a quorum of a public body from communicating among the group unless it’s during an open meeting. Under the expansion of the act proposed by Watson, the public body could only hold discussions, not take action online. Votes would still have to be conducted in a posted meeting.

The forums wouldn’t be an open blog for citizens, but the public would be able to see all the posts by public officials, Abbott said. The posted material must be displayed for at least 30 days and would be accessible for up to two years by request under the Texas Public Information Act.

“This ensures that public officials are able to operate at the speed of technology,” Abbott said. He described Watson’s legislation as bringing the Open Meetings Act into the age of Twitter and Facebook.